attrition in longitudinal studies

[Barbara Zurer Pearson]

Dear Shelley,
I'm sure a number of people will give you good
averages of the number of children to enroll and the
standard strategies (paying more for later visits, etc.)
but I had two cautions to share from the experience with
low-SES longitudinal subjects in the projects in Kim
Oller and Rebecca Eiler's lab in Miami (that I participated
in).   Btw, we had a great (full-time) family coordinator: a woman in
her late 40s who spent a lot of time bonding with the families
and calling and scheduling (and rescheduling).  We also had
enough research assistants that we could follow the requirements
of the subjects more than those of the researchers--ie. we had
more flexibility for the subjects in setting up the appointments.

1.  We didn't lose so many people, but we didn't have everyone
at every observation point.  ( For example, hurricane Andrew
disrupted the living situations of several families for several months--
but they came back--and other less dramatic interruptions
occurred.)

2.  The second consideration was that by the time we had families
who had the staying power to come every month, they may not
have been typical of their demographic group.  (and in fact, we
found smaller SES differences than other studies have found).

Good luck,
Barbara



----- Original Message -----
From: "Shelley Velleman" <velleman at comdis.umass.edu>
To: <info-childes at mail.talkbank.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 8:14 PM
Subject: attrition in longitudinal studies


> Assistance urgently needed!
>
> I need to know what kinds of attrition rates people have had
> in longitudinal studies, especially of very young kids (I hope to be
> following mine from 12 - 42 months).  Especially if you've had experience
> with low SES groups, I'd really appreciate you sharing your experience,
> including any strategies that helped to reduce attrition.
>
> Please include:
>
> Age range:
> SES:
> Strategies that did or did not work to reduce attrition (Please state
> which!):
> Location:
>
> Many thanks!!
>
> Shelley Velleman
> UMass - Amherst
>
>
>
>
>